Fairfax Media CEO Greg Hywood ‘won’t be dissuaded from making the right decisions’ by strike action
Fairfax Media CEO Greg Hywood has said the job cuts announced yesterday are part of “completely resetting existing models” which is needed to address structural challenges the company is facing.
Greg Hywood: Quality journalism will remain at the core of our future sustainable model
Speaking at this morning’s Macquarie Australia Conference just one day after the company – which publishes The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review – announced 125 editorial jobs are to be axed as part of a $30m restructure, Hywood acknowledged it was a “tough decision”.
“Our three publishing businesses have made considerable progress in transforming to more sustainable models,” Hywood said.
Why did Hywood choose this timing? It is truly Orwellian. in the age of spinner doublespeak and alternative facts, he is a “facts out” manager of Fairfax.
“Clearly we have made some tough decisions to make our publishing division sustainable”. Yes, Greg, very tough for the hundreds of people who have lost their jobs as part of your never-ending cost cutting and “transformation strategy”. Not at all tough for you, who continues to take home an exorbitant remuneration package, recently increased to $2.7m pa, even as you were announcing yet more job cuts. Everyone understands the need to cut costs across the business — but seems apparent that you and the executive ranks of Fairfax are quarantined from these “tough decisions”.
“Hywood said in FY18 the industry will see “some of the major milestones” in the company’s publishing innovation with a “new product pilot in a smaller market”.
“This will be followed by the launch of new platforms for the SMH, The Age, The Australian Financial Review and Lifestyle mastheads, along with new apps for the SMH and The Age.”
Sounds as believable as all those new revenue streams Hywood was spruiking to the market for a couple of years, all of which have come to nothing — some incoherent plans around data, marketing services for Small Business, Events. Let’s hope all these shiny new products have a shiny new revenue model attached to them. Without a viable commercial strategy, all the new products in the world are not going to make any difference. Time will tell.
Here’s the thing. Hywood has said quite a few times that he’s making tough decision to “make the business sustainable”. Every time he says it the business looks, over all, less sustainable. Yet his pay goes up!
People might note that the people who oversaw his pay and performance are people like these (Fairfax directors):
1. Roger Corbett: made Woolworths hugely profitable by gouging its near monopoly: everyone who has followed hates his guts
2. Linda Nicholls: Mother knows best gal who put the man in place at Australia Post on the most embarrassing pay deal in Australia history
3. Todd Sampson: nice guy who does nice stuff.
4. Sandra McPhee: rose without trace
5. Peter Young: a huge investment banking talent who sadly left the board in 2016 after a decade of brilliant interventiuons.
6. David Gonski: Mr Rubic’s Cube. Google any Fairfax director’s name and the answer is: Gonski!
Don’t forget, Chief officer Greg Hywood got a $2.5m bonus this year, which is the equivalent of 16 full-time journalists informing the public.
Value for money?
well what is dissuading Mr. Hywood from making the right decisions?
I’d say it has a lot to do with the fact that his rem and bonus are tied to some massive cost reduction targets (just as long as those cost reductions don’t apply to his own salary)